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Spider Jones was 23 and long out of prison in March 1966, happy to have a bed at a boxing gym on Ossington Ave. above an auto body shop, courtesy of his friend, boxer George Chuvalo.

And then Muhammad Ali showed up at Sully’s Gym to train for his upcoming fight with Chuvalo at Maple Leaf Gardens.

“He was my hero. I was on the brink when I met him,” said Toronto broadcaster and motivational speaker Jones, 70, of Ali, who died Friday at age 74 in Arizona.

They did sparring sessions and daily training runs. In between, they talked music — Ali was a huge Sam Cooke fan — and he encouraged Jones’ ambitions about a career in radio. They formed a lifelong friendship cemented when Ali told Jones to pick up a gym bag and pretend to be part of his entourage for the Toronto fight, giving him a ringside view of the historic 15-round bout with Chuvalo where Ali emerged victorious.

They also kidded around. Jones said the first time he met Ali, he was caught staring at the champ, telling him: “You’re so pretty. I don’t know whether to kiss you or shake your hand.”

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Ali was heavyweight champion when he walked into Sully’s, which has since relocated to Dupont St. It was usually packed with up to 600 people a day who paid $2 to get in and watch Ali work out during his 15-day stint in Toronto, Jones recalled.

“Muhammad Ali was a true ambassador, not only for boxing but a true humanitarian,” said Les Woods of Global Legacy Boxing, which hosted a tribute evening to mark the 50th anniversary of the March 29, 1966, fight between Ali and Chuvalo.

At a news conference prior to the tribute, Chuvalo reflected on his history with Ali: “Boxing is a crazy way to make friends. Muhammad and I fought two tough fights but we forged a friendship that can’t be broken.”

Ali’s daughter Rasheda Ali and world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis were among the guests at the tribute.

Woods and Lewis plan to be in Louisville, Ky., Monday “to pay respects to Muhammad,” prior to his Friday funeral.

“He truly was a wonderful humanitarian,” said Woods. “His courage and charisma will be remembered forever.”

Woods praised Ali for lighting the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, despite the obvious difficulties caused by his Parkinson’s disease. “What an amazing human being. His greatness will always be remembered.”

Former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion Tony Morrison was just a kid when he first saw Ali on TV, strutting and bragging outside the ring and then, amazingly, making good on his predictions inside it.

“It was because of him,” that Morrison began boxing. Now 54 and retired from the ring, Morrison coaches boxing at Sully’s.

“He paved the away for a lot of athletes, not just in boxing,” Morrison said of Ali, whom he praised for staying true to his convictions, including speaking out against the Vietnam War, even if it cost him.

“Even athletes today, they stand to lose too much money if they speak up. They would lose sponsorships and so many things,” said Morrison. “Muhammad Ali was not like that. He spoke up. It cost him a lot of money. The whole country was against him.”

“It is sad to say goodbye to a legend. What a great man . . . Who did it better than Ali? No one did it better than Ali.”

Chuvalo, who was unavailable for comment Saturday, recalled in a 2012 interview with the Star’s Randy Starkman how he reacted when he heard the false news of Ali’s death in 2010.

“I hung up the phone. I remember tears coming down my face,” Chuvalo said in an interview at his Caledon home. “I was kind of surprised myself that way. I didn’t know I would react that way. But I did. I went, ‘Holy mackerel.’

“But I later found out it was just a false rumour, so I felt a little better about it. But I was kind of surprised by my own reaction. You fight somebody. You try to kill each other. In a crazy way, you develop a bond, you know. Kind of funny. You try to kill each other and, after the fight’s over, it all disappears, all that venom you felt during a fight.”

Social media outside the sports world reacted quickly to Ali’s death, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoing Ali’s oft-cited “The Greatest” title. “He thrilled. He rumbled. He fought fearlessly, and stood firm in his beliefs. He was, no doubt, the Greatest. RIP Champ,” Trudeau wrote in a tweet.

Singer Paul Simon paused Friday during the final verse of Simon & Garfunkel ’s 1969 hit “The Boxer” to tell the crowd at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif.: “I’m sorry to tell you this way, but Muhammad Ali has passed away.”

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